Now that the lanterns have stopped burning in the darkness of the theater in via Borgognone and the smell of the Bois d’Encens, its favorite perfume, has dissolved in the silence of the space, thinking about Giorgio Armani is almost stranger. Perhaps because it is up to use the verbal time of the imperfect indicative, a term that already in itself draws up with that penalty that did not “admit” (here it is, the first …) defects. Or perhaps because, as always happens, also in this case the collective mourning becomes more personal, stimulus for a reflection that wonders what remains of him from now on, after directing the burning chamber, the declarations to the microphones, the quotes and social stories.

But not to the well -known faces of the show, to the Hollywood stars, to the princesses and the powerful who spent whole days with the stylist, perhaps taking notes on how to combine his “Greige” color and who now keep their clothes drawn tailored in the closet. What remains of Giorgio Armani to ordinary people, to the people who probably never set foot in one of his shops, who in front of his jackets sighed behind the windows and that his clothes only could have dreamed of them on a life that will not be this life. People who, however, despite the social and economic gap with respect to wealthy clientele, in recent days has waited patiently and silent to pay homage to the illustrious “Mr. Armani”. One who, evidently, “Lord” has shown that he really is, beyond any cultural and economic convention.

Armani behind the scenes (and among ordinary people)

Between Saturday and Sunday there were 16 thousand people lined up for Giorgio Armani’s burning chamber. Many, many more those who commented on the disappearance of the designer defined in all its coherent lexical declination – master, king, visionary, philosopher, innovator – to express a displeasure that who knows for what profound reason, it seemed much more spontaneous than other peatly shared situations.

Armani was not a media character in the most common meaning of the word, one on which, by virtue to see him and listen to him on social media, on the radio and on TV, in the end there is always an opinion, there is a judgment or prejudice. Armani was a man who has always worked behind the scenes, who has designed and created mostly prohibitive clothes for the vast majority of people and who, when he showed himself on video, was to say and tell the shape and substance, philosophy and practice, energy and matter.

Yet from his disappearance people were really affected in a way that not even the stylist’s family expected. “We were undecided whether or not to organize the burning room for one or two days, it seemed almost exaggerated. And instead we were overwhelmed by the amount of crowd, the affection and respect that everyone is showing us”, commented his partner of the Ogon: “The most beautiful thing is that the 80, 90 percent of those who came in these two days he did it without knowing him, just to pay him homage”. A deference that brings with it the meaning of a thank you due to those who have conveyed messages for all these decades that only now prove to be precious teachings to keep in mind in an already nostalgic future of him.

The elegance according to Giorgio Armani

One of the most approached nouns to Armani in these days has been “elegance”, a quality that – he explained – “is not to be noticed, but to be remembered”; that “is style, not extravagance”; Which consists “in the correct balance between knowing who you are, what is good for you and how you want to develop your character. The clothes become the expression of this balance”.

And it is perhaps here that the nucleus of his explosive creative and communicative power is, in the ability to have proposed without ever imposing a concept of good guys that would be out of “his” branded clothes GA to become a reason for inspiration. A way of being – more than a fashion to follow – precisely of those who aspire to grace as a aesthetic expression of personality, authority and, above all, kindness.

Next to his coffin wanted the phrase to stand: “The sign I hope to be able to leave is made of commitment, respect and attention to people and for reality. It is from there that everything begins”. From today onwards, so Giorgio Armani remains.